copyright 1998 J. Charles: used by permission
Many of you have seen Waldoe on our web page, on tee shirts, on flags at the State Shoot Off, and most recently on club patches. Several of our young friends have asked who (or what) Waldoe is and where she came from. Certainly one of the strangest chains of events in our club's history is the story of Waldoe the cow.
"If she's a cow, how come her name's Waldoe? Shouldn't she have a girl's name?"
"Waldoe is a girl's name. Don't you know what 'doe' means?"
"Sorry. I forgot."
"That's all right. Now don't interrupt again. Waldoe's story begins several years ago, when she was a cow in southern Caddo County. She looked just like a lot of other cows, and so nobody paid much attention to her. Waldoe lived out her life in obscurity, somehow avoiding a one way ride to the Apache Livestock Auction, and died a natural death."
"What does 'obscurity' mean?"
"It means nobody paid any attention to her, okay?"
"Okay."
"That might have been the end of Waldoe's story, except that in the summer of 1998 her skull was found by club member P___ S___. Not aware of any national shortage of cow skulls, P___ tossed Waldoe into the back of his truck and went about his business. That business took him to Fort Sill's MB-1 range, where J___ C___ saw Waldoe in the truck bed. P___ was willing to part with the skull, so Waldoe went home with J___ that day."
"Why do you use letters instead of names?"
"Because some people might not want their names mentioned in a story like this."
"That makes sense."
"Thank you. J___ intended to paint the skull in Kiowa style and made several 'concept drawings.' Then J___ got busy with other things, and Waldoe moved into a storage shed for the next two years."
"Wasn't she afraid of the dark?"
"No. Dead cows aren't afraid of anything."
"I knew that."
"In August of 1998 E___ C___ designed the club's web page and needed a logo for it. J___ knew the club officially had a logo, but since it had never actually been put on paper, no one had ever seen it. Short on time, J___ took one of the concept drawings of Waldoe, converted it to a GIF file, and posted it to the web. Do you know what a GIF file is?"
"Of course I do. Kids know that stuff."
"Well, reactions varied. Some said, 'I like it. I like it a lot.' Others called it 'a dead cow thing' or suggested that it looked like the logo for the Comanche Skeet and Trap Club. Meanwhile, Waldoe made the transition from pasture to information superhighway without much difficulty."
"The next turn of events was a 50' bullseye sectional held near Duncan in March of 1999. Our club was invited to send a team, and some of the team wanted 'club tee shirts.' Time was short, so J___ took the GIF file of Waldoe down to T&S Printing. That's how Waldoe got on the tee shirts."
"I've got a club tee shirt. How come the picture's on the back instead of the front?"
"So people can see it when we're on the firing line. In December of 1999 our club sent a team to the Bolt Action Military Rifle State Shoot Off at Tulsa. J___ P___ wanted 'club flags' for the benches of Team Lawton. T&S said they could make flags on short notice 'if the graphics were already on file.' That's how Waldoe got on the club flags."
"How come I've never seen a club flag?"
"Because there were only six of them made, one for each of the five team members and one for the alternate."
"Oh."
"J___ K___ had a patch from every shooting club he had ever belonged to--except ours. He was told the club could order patches if he found a source and got estimates. J___ K___ needed a picture to use for the estimates, so he copied Waldoe from the top of the club web page. That's how Waldoe got on the club patches."
"Like the patch on my hat?"
"Exactly like the patch on your hat. But now J___ C___ had one problem. People kept asking about the real Waldoe. In June of 2000, Waldoe was pulled from under a jon boat in J___'s storage shed, decked out with beads and feathers, and prepared to meet her public. She looks forward to seeing everyone at the September meeting each year."
"Will Waldoe be at this year's September meeting?"
"She wouldn't miss it for anything."
"Will you tell this story at the meeting?"
"No."
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